The Onset of World War (Routledge Revivals) by Manus I Midlarsky

Author:Manus I Midlarsky [Midlarsky, Manus I]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: International Relations, Diplomacy, Strategy, Military, Political Science, History, General
ISBN: 9781317645443
Google: os0JBAAAQBAJ
Goodreads: 22830730
Publisher: Routledge
Published: 2014-07-16T00:00:00+00:00

Notes

1

Claude (1962, 13–25) probably comes closest to this distinction in distinguishing between the balance of power as a situation, often connoting equilibrium, and the balance of power as a system. However, the meaning he imparts to the term “system” is not the same as Kaplan’s usage adopted here, namely, that of the random choice of alliance partners without the memory of past friendships or enmities. One of the earliest modern efforts at explicit distinctions among the meanings of the balance of power is by the economic historian Polanyi (1944, 259–262), although he too did not make the particular distinction found here.

2

A basic difference between this approach and that of the power transition as developed in Organski and Kugler (1980, 19–27) is that changes in the balance here can arise equally from alliance processes, from fundamental changes within nation-states, or some combination of the two. The power transition emphasizes internal change, and it does not treat the concept of polarization as it is developed here.

3

Commenting on the condition of stasis in Europe prior to 1914, Sir Edward Grey (1925, 291), the British Foreign Minister, noted that “the failure to arrest expenditure in armaments was but a negative feature, and there was nothing new about it. Europe had grown used to such expenditure, and to failures to arrest its growth. There seemed no reason to suppose that it would cause a crisis this year any more than it had done in previous years.”

4

The condition of balance can be so finely tuned that but a small change in its structure can precipitate a war. An interesting illustration is provided by a sequel to the Dutch War between France and the United Provinces ending in 1679. In November 1681, Louis XIV, laid siege to the city of Luxemburg, then as now a small city, and not of terribly significant strategic importance. Yet, so antagonistic were the Dutch to the idea of Luxemburg falling into the hands of the French, that, despite the possibility of the outbreak of a new European war, William of Orange was ordered to move to the relief of the city when it appeared that it would fall to the French forces. As a consequence of this stand, Louis XIV raised the siege of Luxemburg early in 1682 (Hassall 1907, 48).

5

This percentage variance explained was found with all other variables in the equation controlled (Singer et al. 1972, 39).

6

Elsewhere in this volume, I have termed these structural wars to connote the structural condition of two or more political entities joined by a political coalition which also joins their heretofore separate conflict axes. An example is the Dual Alliance of 1914, which joined the exclusively great power conflicts of Germany with the great power-small power conflicts of Austria-Hungary. The simultaneous presence of the Habsburg Monarchy in both Spain and Austria and the joining of the two in the Catholic war against the Protestant states of Holland and Bohemia constitute another case in point. A mobilization war, on the other hand, proceeds largely

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